Blackwolf's Redemption

by Sandra Marton

  “Don’t go.” The words came out on one swift breath. “Stay with me, Jesse. Please. Just hold me, that’s all. Can you do that?”

  Hell, no. He was a man, not a saint.

  “Never mind,” she said quickly. “Why would you want to? It was a crazy request. You go ahead. I’ll be—”

  Jesse put a finger under her chin. Tilted her face to his. Brushed his lips softly over hers. Then he knelt on the bed of blankets and offered Sienna his hand, the same way he had hours before on the sacred stone.

  But it wasn’t the same. This time, instead of hesitating, she put her palm against his.

  He drew her down beside him. Lay back, curved his arm around her. And when she yawned softly and lay her head on his shoulder, her hand over his heart, he knew that this, just this, was somehow as meaningful as what they’d been doing before the damned lights came on.

  She was asleep in seconds. No nightmares for her now, he thought as he pressed a light kiss to her hair.

  And none for him.

  For the first time in months, Jesse Blackwolf fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  JESSE came awake the same way he always did, mind and body alert and ready for whatever might be waiting for him—but with one huge difference.

  He’d slept straight through the night, something he hadn’t done since before ’Nam. Instead of impenetrable darkness, the living room was filled with sunlight pouring from a brilliantly blue sky.

  And he’d slept the night with a woman in his arms.

  Not just a woman.

  Sienna.

  A soft, warm Sienna, still lying in his embrace, her head against his shoulder. He drew her even closer, turned his head so her silken hair brushed his chin.

  It felt wonderful to have her tucked against him this way. Was she the reason he had not awakened every hour, as he’d done for so long it had started to seem normal?

  No. Of course not.

  That he’d slept through the night was just a quirk. Or maybe, with luck, his sleep pattern was finally starting to change. Whatever the reason, it surely didn’t have a thing to do with the stranger in his arms.

  Of course it didn’t.

  Jesse shifted his weight a little, just enough so he could get a better look at her. Amazing. He still wasn’t sure why she’d turned up in the canyon yesterday, but whatever the reason, she’d had one hell of a day. And, okay, maybe he hadn’t made things any easier.

  Bottom line, she’d been through a lot—so how could she look so beautiful, even under the merciless glare of the morning sun?

  Her hair was a cloud of gold, brown and bronze curls, her lashes a dark sweep against her cheeks. Her lips were slightly parted, her breath warm against his naked flesh.

  If he angled his head a little, he could lean down and kiss those lips.

  He could do more than that.

  Damned right, he could.

  His reaction was swift and entirely male, an erection so rock-hard it was close to painful, accompanied by a burst of images in his head, starting with him kissing her awake. Caressing her. Cupping her breasts, bringing them to his lips, looking up as her violet eyes turned deepest blue.

  Jesse, she’d sigh, and this time, instead of letting his hunger take over, he’d keep himself under control.

  Hey, control was his thing. Control had saved his ass in ’Nam; his men had called him the Iceman. It was what Linda had taken to calling him, too, though she hadn’t meant it as a compliment.

  You never let go, Jesse, she’d said, and she was probably right, he never did, but if a man let go, he might never find his way back to himself….

  Jesse slid his arm from under Sienna’s shoulders, folded his arms beneath his head and stared blindly at the ceiling.

  Never mind all that. He’d come awake with a take-no-prisoners hard-on. End of story. It was a strictly physiological reaction to sleeping with a woman after weeks, months of celibacy.

  More to the point, it was a reaction to what had gone on last night.

  If he hadn’t awakened that way, there’d be something wrong with him.

  Definitely, it was time to do something about it.

  There were a dozen women listed in his address book who’d be eager to spend a couple of hours in bed with the owner of Blackwolf Ranch. And once he put this place and its memories behind him, moved to the coast where he’d already started to make a life that suited him a lot better than this one, there’d be women lining up for the right to spend a night with him.

  Any one of them would do fine, he thought coldly.

  He had no romantic illusions. Not anymore. Sex was sex, not just as he’d thought last night but as he’d learned with Linda. It was purely physical. And it was a damned good thing he hadn’t gone all the way with Sienna last night. Women were nothing but complications. This one had been in his life, what, twenty-four hours? Look how she’d already complicated it.

  Complexity was the last thing he wanted. Things were finally right where he wanted them and that was the way he intended to keep them. Simple. Straightforward. No emotional ups and downs, no promises that inevitably turned out to be lies.

  Absolutely, that was how he wanted it. He wasn’t about to confuse things by getting involved with a woman who’d turned up out of nowhere, whose reasons for intruding into his life were clouded, to say the least.

  Sienna’s life was hers to worry over, not his.

  Jesse’s jaw tightened. Time to get up, get moving and, most of all, get this stranger out of his life.

  She was still sleeping. Good, he thought as he got to his feet. By the time she was up, he’d have showered, made coffee, put some food in his belly. He’d have come up with a plan for how to deal with her.

  Contacting the sheriff, never a real option, was definitely out.

  No matter how badly he wanted her gone, a man who’d come within seconds of burying himself inside a woman would have to be out of his mind to turn her over to the law. He might be cold-hearted, as Linda had said, but he wasn’t a complete SOB.

  His bedroom was still cool—it would take a while for the chill of the night to wear off—but when he wrenched the shower lever all the way to hot, the water poured out just the way he liked it.

  Quickly, he stripped off his clothes, dumped them in the hamper.

  He’d give Sienna breakfast. Drive her into Bozeman. If the guy she insisted was her professor and not her boyfriend was there, waiting there for her, fine. If he wasn’t, well, that would be fine, too. Once he got her to town, she’d be on her own. She could take a bus, a plane, rent a car, go back to wherever she’d come from.

  If she needed money, he’d give her some.

  Then he’d walk away.

  Jesse stepped into the shower stall, turned his face up to the spray.

  He’d have to put in a couple of days cleaning up the damage the storm had undoubtedly left behind. Downed trees. Broken fences. Whatever. Then he’d go through the sale documents one last time, sign them, and all this—the ranch, the canyon, the memories he no longer wanted—would be done with.

  His new life was waiting.

  “San Francisco,” he said as he dumped shampoo on his hair, “here I come.”

  Yeah, he’d tried that new life once before and it hadn’t worked out, but things had changed. He had changed. California, not Montana, was where he belonged.

  He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror over the vanity. The face, the eyes were the same. Cool. Maybe even a little empty. Maybe he hadn’t changed, after all….

  Jesse snorted. The hell with trying to figure it out. Worrying a thing half to death never got a man anywhere. That was what starting over was all about, wasn’t it?

  “Damned right,” he said, and he flattened his hands against the glass of the shower wall, bent his head and let the spray beat down on his aching muscles.

  Sienna heard the distant hiss of running water and decided it was safe to open her eyes.

  She’d been awake
forever. Since right after Jesse had awakened, anyway. One second she’d been dreaming that she was lying in the arms of a gorgeous stranger. The next, she’d realized the dream was true, she was lying in the arms of a gorgeous stranger. But before she could do anything about it, at least put some distance between them, she’d felt Jesse’s long, powerful body shift against hers, felt the impact of his gaze on her.

  And the sexy pressure of his erection.

  That was when she’d decided to pretend she was still asleep.

  Whatever had happened between them last night… No way could she face him this morning. It was too embarrassing….

  Or maybe too tempting to just look up into those probing eyes, move against him, say his name and offer herself to him so they could finish what they’d started.

  You really must be crazy, she’d told herself, and she hadn’t moved a muscle. She’d faked sleep until, finally, he’d risen to his feet and walked away, his fading footsteps so determined, so obviously a message that she knew she’d done the right thing.

  It was daylight, the storm was over.

  And Jesse Blackwolf would be delighted to see her gone.

  She felt the same way. She wanted out, the sooner the better. If she moved fast enough, she might even avoid facing him, because what did a woman say to a man after she’d been naked in his arms? After he’d touched her with hot intimacy even though they were strangers?

  Sienna threw her arm over her eyes. Just remembering made her face heat. She’d never done anything like that in her life. She wasn’t into hooking up with a guy for the night. She’d been with two men and she’d known both for months before things had progressed that far. And even then, she hadn’t felt the way she’d felt with Jesse last night.

  The liquid rush of pleasure. The shocking realization that she was, that she wanted to be, totally out of control. The desire to let a man do anything he wanted to her…

  Sienna shot to her feet. She was wasting time when there was none to waste.

  Surely, a house like this had a zillion bathrooms. She needed to shower away yesterday’s grime. And Jesse’s touch. His intimate, knowing touch.

  The house had two wings. She headed for the opposite one. The very first door she tried opened onto a bedroom, and, yes, it had an attached bath. Sienna shut the bedroom door, locked it, went into the bathroom and locked that door, as well.

  Not that a locked door had stopped Jesse last night.

  If he came for her…

  Her heart began to race. No. She wasn’t going there. He wouldn’t come, and even if he did, she’d have no difficulty telling him she didn’t want him.

  She stripped off the sweats, let them fall to the floor. She’d have to wear them again. Her own stuff was probably still wet and mud-soaked…and who gave a damn what she wore? What mattered was getting out of here.

  A bar of wrapped soap and small, unused bottles of shampoo and conditioner stood on a marble ledge. No doubt about it, this was a room for guests.

  A bubble of crazed laughter rose in her throat.

  Had there ever been a stranger guest than she? A 2010 guest in a 1975 world?

  “Do not start on that now,” she said—and thought, Great, now she’d taken to talking to herself. But Herself was right, this wasn’t the time to worry over the impossibility of her situation.

  After she left here? Yes. But not now.

  She showered, shampooed in record time. Turned off the water. Toweled off. Ran her hands through her hair. Put on the, ugh, dirty sweats. What else? Did she owe Jesse a note? Maybe there was pen and paper in one of these drawers. Even if there were, what would she write?

  Dear Mr. Blackwolf…

  A little formal, all things considered.

  Dear Jesse: Thank you for everything.

  No good, either. She wasn’t about to thank him for everything.

  Okay. How about, Hi, thanks for the sweats. I’ll mail them back once I’ve bought something else to wear….

  Sienna stood still.

  Buy clothes? With what? She had no purse. No wallet. That meant no cash, no checkbook, no charge cards, no ATM card. If she was hallucinating, that wouldn’t be a problem—but she wasn’t. She knew that now, even if she didn’t want to think about it. Absolutely, she didn’t, because if she did, she’d end up in that psycho ward.

  Her hands began trembling. Hell, all of her was trembling.

  She took a deep breath, but it wasn’t deep, it was shaky. Still, she took another. Held it. Let it out. Did it again while her thoughts scrabbled around like laboratory mice in a cage.

  Forget the note.

  Just go.

  But she needed a plan.

  She’d start by walking to the main road. There had to be a main road, even here in the middle of nowhere. Step two, flag down a ride. Get to town. Find a branch of her bank. It was a major bank, there had to be a branch in Bozeman. In fact, she’d seen one on her way from the airport….

  But that was then.

  This was now. This was another time.

  Who knew if the bank existed?

  Don’t do that, she told herself as she cracked open the bedroom door. Don’t think negatively. Think positively. Assume the bank was there. She’d go in, tell them her stuff had been stolen, that she had an account in a branch in New York and could they arrange for a cash transfer, and yes, that sounded great except she didn’t have an account at a branch in New York, not yet, she didn’t have an account anywhere.

  She didn’t exist. She hadn’t been born. She—

  “Sienna?”

  She blinked. Jesse stood outside the bedroom, looking so solid, so real. She wanted to fling herself into his arms. Instead, she gave him what she hoped was a there-you-are-and-thanks-for-everything smile.

  “Hi.”

  “You okay?”

  So much for the thanks-for-everything smile. Not that the question meant anything. He asked it with all the interest of a stranger on the street.

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I was just…” She gestured behind her, toward the bathroom. “I was thinking it feels great to have showered. I hope you don’t mind…?”

  “No. Of course not.” A brief pause. “Well—”

  “Yes. Well…” Her lips felt as if the smile were stuck to them. “I, ah, I want to thank you for—”

  “There’s coffee.”

  “Coffee,” she said brightly, and flashed another smile. God, she was turning into a TV commercial. “Actually, I thought—I thought I’d just—just, you know, get going….”

  “Right. I figured that. Coffee, and then I’ll drive you into Bozeman.”

  “Just point me to the highway and I’ll get a lift.”

  “No.” The determination in the single word surprised her. “I mean—” He cleared his throat. “I’ll take you to town.”

  Of course he would. That way he’d be sure she wasn’t going to turn up on his property again.

  “Thank you. If you don’t mind, I’d just as soon pass on the coffee. Okay?”

  He nodded, then looked her over. “Sorry I don’t have anything that would fit you better.”

  “This is fine.”

  “Your sneakers are probably stiff with mud—”

  “They’ll do.”

  “Good. Good.” A muscle knotted in his jaw. “Look, Sienna, about last night—”

  “I’m just going to get those sneakers,” she said quickly, brushing past him.

  She didn’t get very far. His hand curled around her arm. “I was out of line.”

  “We already talked about this, remember? I’m as responsible for what happened as you are.”

  “Still, I owe you an apology.”

  “Fine. Apology accepted—assuming you’ve accepted mine.”

  Jesse held out his hand. She looked at it for a long moment before she took it.

  “Deal,” he said.

  She nodded. “Deal.”

  He smiled. So did she. But when she looked up at him, she saw an intensity in his dark e
yes that left her breathless, and saw, too, a question she could answer simply by taking a step toward him.

  But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Because if he took her in his arms again, she would be more lost than she already was.

  The handshake ended.

  “I’ll bring the truck around front,” he said, as if the moment had not happened, and she said, “Fine,” and moved past him, and knew that the sooner she got out of this place, the better.

  Because of detritus from yesterday’s storm, the drive took almost two hours.

  Downed trees, a swollen creek, a fallen power line all required Jesse’s concentration. Just as well. It gave him a reason to keep quiet after a few desultory remarks.

  He had no idea what to say to the woman seated beside him.

  She hadn’t been big on conversation, either. In fact, she’d only made one remark since getting into his Chevy Silverado. She’d looked at his eight-track tape player and given a choked laugh.

  “Something funny?”

  “No. No, not at all. It’s just…that’s an eight-track, right?”

  His brows lifted. “What else would it be?”

  An iPod, she thought giddily, and fought back a sense of rising hysteria.

  “Want to hear something?”

  She nodded.

  “Pick whatever you like,” he said, jerking his head toward the box of tapes on the floor near her feet.

  “The Eagles,” she said, with that little laugh again, as if she’d stumbled across something completely unexpected. “Oh, I love their music! You, too?”

  “Yeah,” he’d said. “They’re okay.”

  The truth was, they were his favorite band, but admitting that seemed to be admitting too much.

  Now, as they approached the center of town, “One of These Nights” playing softly in the background, Jesse cleared his throat.

  “There’s a hotel on Main Street that’s not too bad.”

  Sienna swung toward him. She knew he’d said something, but her brain seemed to have stopped working.

  “What?”

  He reached out, silenced the tape player.

  “I said, there’s a hotel on Main that’s passable.”